Is this a viable idea to pursue?

[felixwinkler]

For about a month I've been working on a new business. At the start, I was pretty convinced that this is an amazing concept and I am onto something big. I won't go into much detail about the product itself, however, what I can tell is, there already are a lot of big players in that industry and I noticed a huge trend towards sustainability, on both the consumer and seller end in a specific direction. Still, none of those brands are really there yet, I only found one that did the exact same thing I'm trying to achieve, however, they're not even selling online! The biggest difference of my brand compared to other brands would probably be the packaging, I'm looking to make it completely sustainable and recyclable.
Anyway, I started doing a lot more research, called up different manufacturers, etc. and basically found out that you can just private label the product and sell it under your brand. I'm currently building up a following on Instagram and Facebook, later I was planning on funding it on Kickstarter, however, right now I'm wondering whether this even sounds like a good idea to pursue. I know that a successful business doesn't necessarily need to be revolutionary and doesn't have to start without any competition at all, it can have its UVP in something like a better design, better service, functionality, or as in this case also packaging, I'm just confused about the private label part...

 

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[valuecreator]

Is there a hungry public for this kind of product or you gonna have to educate?

btw, I love competition. They do half the work for you.

 

[minivanman]

If it's a battery operated fly swatter with radar, I'd say it's a bad idea to put money in to, although a GREAT idea on paper. Other than that, how do we have a clue? We have no idea what it is.

 

[valuecreator]

also, what is confusing to you about white label?

 

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[Walter Hay]

I know that a successful business doesn't necessarily need to be revolutionary and doesn't have to start without any competition at all, it can have its UVP in something like a better design, better service, functionality, or as in this case also packaging, I'm just confused about the private label part...

If you intend private labeling, I suggest that you DON'T search for companies that advertise that they supply private labelers.

By doing that you could lose any real possibility of distinguishing your product from the thousands of others that might be bought from the same company.

I would be inclined to ignore any companies that advertise as suppliers to private labelers, and instead look for any products that your research has found can be sold successfully online. Once you have worked out what products you want to sell, you will have no trouble finding manufacturers of those products, but the majority are unlikely to advertise the fact that they supply private label products.

Looking at the subject of private labeling in general, you need to think about your entire strategy to develop your own brand. The very first thing to do is to give a lot of thought to your target market. In my labeling book I describe how to make sure your product, brand name, logo, slogan, and packaging, appeal to your target market. It involves a list of questions.

Here is a part of the list of questions to ask yourself about the people that might buy your product:

• What are their needs and wants? What are their ambitions?
• What are their interests?
• What is their position in society?
• What benefit do they expect from buying and using your product?
• Who do they hang out with?
• What is most important to your potential customers?

The viability of your idea could depend on how well you can answer those questions and the remainder of my list.

Walter

 

[felixwinkler]

Is there a hungry public for this kind of product or you gonna have to educate?

There definitely is! As I said, it's nothing too revolutionary or new, rather an existing product with a twist to it.

btw, I love competition. They do half the work for you.

So you don't think that an idea needs to be revolutionary and without any competition to be a huge success?

also, what is confusing to you about white label?

Not really confusing, but I felt like if it's even possible already to have something like this white-labeled then it's not really worth it to pursue. But I'm probably wrong there, also white-labeling probably is the best option for the start anyway instead of building an own factory, etc. xD

 

[Kid]

It can work.
If you want to have real life test then buy few products, create your packaging manually and try to sell it.

 

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[krishnafied]

For about a month I've been working on a new business. At the start, I was pretty convinced that this is an amazing concept and I am onto something big. I won't go into much detail about the product itself, however, what I can tell is, there already are a lot of big players in that industry and I noticed a huge trend towards sustainability, on both the consumer and seller end in a specific direction. Still, none of those brands are really there yet, I only found one that did the exact same thing I'm trying to achieve, however, they're not even selling online! The biggest difference of my brand compared to other brands would probably be the packaging, I'm looking to make it completely sustainable and recyclable.
Anyway, I started doing a lot more research, called up different manufacturers, etc. and basically found out that you can just private label the product and sell it under your brand. I'm currently building up a following on Instagram and Facebook, later I was planning on funding it on Kickstarter, however, right now I'm wondering whether this even sounds like a good idea to pursue. I know that a successful business doesn't necessarily need to be revolutionary and doesn't have to start without any competition at all, it can have its UVP in something like a better design, better service, functionality, or as in this case also packaging, I'm just confused about the private label part...

Whenever you have doubt about something, it is almost always something good (we never doubt people's hatred or jealousy, but we do doubt their love, right?) -- so the doubts mean it's probably a great direction to go in!

 

[ShepardHumphries]

It depends on the product, client acquisition costs, margins, volume etc...

Agenda 21 & 30 is the wave of the future, so you are in an excellent market, if your product is excellent and you can reach people more cost-efficiently than other folks, it could be good.

If you don't own any intellectual property, and your primary business assets are 1) the idea to copy what others are already doing, 2) a social media following (of 1k, 10k, 100k people?) ... I wonder if it might be worth you making the gamble of someone on this forum stealing your idea? It could be worth posting it, there are some smart cookies here that could help.

 

[Kid]

I wonder if it might be worth you making the gamble of someone on this forum stealing your idea? It could be worth posting it, there are some smart cookies here that could help.

Hi Shepard,

Consensus is that its not worth the gamble.
If one really wants to share his idea then he/she might get INSIDERS subscription and share on the "Inside".

The reason is that there was at least one case of idea being posted on public part of this forum and copied to the t.

 

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